Category Archives: Wedding Traditions

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Flowers are an important aspect to any wedding and can really help make your event special and beautiful from an aesthetic perspective. Many people stress about their flower arrangements and it’s important to understand that no matter what type of wedding you are having there are professionals who have worked with that theme before who can help you pick out flowers that suit your wedding perfectly. Leaving all of the work on your own shoulders is a sure fire way to ensure that you will stress yourself out and start to feel overwhelmed which are two things that you want to avoid.

Refusing to Compromise

When it comes to your wedding flowers you have to understand that making compromises is the way to go. Not only will you be more productive this way, but your wallet will thank you later. A lot of brides expect over the top flower arrangements without factoring in the cost of these types of expenses. It’s important that as a couple, you and your loved one decide to listen to your florist and take their advice when it comes to choosing the flowers for your wedding day.

Choosing Too Much

If you choose too many different options for your flowers then you may end up with a disaster on your hands. Remember, when it comes to wedding flowers, less is more. You don’t want your guests to feel like they are walking into a garden. Remember, the reason your guests are gathered together isn’t so they can admire flowers, it’s because they are there to celebrate the love that you share with your significant other.

Order Flowers too Late

When it comes to your wedding flowers there is such a thing as too late. In order to ensure that you don’t miss out on the flowers that you want, order them in advance. The same goes for booking your wedding florist. The saying “better late than never” may be true but the sooner you book a florist the more time you will have to go over options and discuss which types of flowers will look good. Make sure you tell your florist all about the colors you have chosen, the way you want your wedding to look and feel, as well as show them the bridesmaid dresses and custom wedding dress so that they can help you bring out the aspects of your wedding that are most important to you.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to your wedding flowers is not to take on too much at once. Enlist the help of friends and family and try to make the experience a memorable one that everyone will cherish.

When you are shopping for a custom bridesmaid dress, the most important thing to remember is to keep an open mind, and not to get agitated at your bridal party. There will be times when you may or may not agree with their opinions (and they will definitely have them) but the important thing to remember is that in the end, the final decision is yours.

One Size Fits One (Not All)

Make sure that you bring your entire bridal party when you go to the fittings for the bridesmaid dresses. Without a complete fitting, it will be difficult to determine how the dress will look all around. Just because the dress looks great on one person doesn’t mean that it will fit each bridesmaid the same way. Having everyone try on the dress will not only give you a good mental picture as far as your wedding day is concerned, but it will ensure that you are confident in your decision and that your bridesmaids feel comfortable as well. It’s also fun! Having your bridal party come and try on dresses is a great bonding experience and it will be something that you remember for the rest of your life.

Be Open Minded

While you’re enjoying the time spent with your closest friends, why not have them try on as many dresses as possible? The more variety you allow them to try, the better idea you will have as far as what is and isn’t working with their particular body types. Make sure to listen to their input respectfully without taking it as the final word. Your bridesmaids are entitled to their opinions, but in the end you are the one that is going to be making the ultimate decision.

Themes

In order to make the selection a little less painless, try to set a theme for yourself regardless of if your wedding has one. For instance, based on the look and location of your wedding, you could end up learning more towards a casual dress, or a classic look. Having a theme and style in mind will help you narrow down your choices as well as help you be certain in your decision. It’s okay to second guess your choices as well as take time to “mull things over”. Starting the dress search early on will ensure that you have plenty of time to consider all of your options as well as have your bridesmaid try on every type of dress that has peaked your interest. Remember, you might fall in love with more than one dress so you want to give yourself enough time to be able to think about each choice amply.

When it comes to picking out your wedding dress, there are a few tips you can use to ensure that you enjoy yourself and make the most of what should be a highly enjoyable experience. Whether you are going at it alone, or enlisting the help of friends and family, finding the perfect wedding dress will complete your wedding planning process.

Include Your Mother in Law

Including your mother-in-law may not be your dream when it comes to picking out your wedding dress, but it will probably make her entire year. Chances are if you’re planning on buying a wedding dress, you will have to make multiple trips and if you can include your mother-in-law in at least one of them you’ll be doing something nice for your soon to be new family.

Be Open Minded

Being open minded is important when it comes to picking out your wedding dress. The more open minded you are, the better chances you have at finding a dress that you fall in love with. Take risks and be adventurous because you have nothing to lose when it comes to trying on dresses. This is a good time to try new styles and create a range of options for yourself. The more options you have the better and more informed of a decision you will come to.

Bend Your Budget

Your wedding dress will stay with you for the rest of your life so if there’s anything you should splurge on it should definitely be your wedding dress. Don’t be afraid to budget in extra money and go for a higher quality dress as opposed to cutting corners financially. No amount of money can replace how you feel in a beautiful wedding dress on your wedding day.

Avoid Pressure

While it’s nice to get the opinions of others when it comes to picking out your wedding dress, don’t ever feel pressured into buying something just because everyone else likes it. A lot of brides throw their hands in the air and listen to the opinions of everyone besides themselves. This should be avoided at all costs, because hey, you’re the one getting married! Respectfully acknowledge the opinions of your friends and loved ones without letting what they say become law.

Second Guessing is Okay

Just because you’re second guessing a dress doesn’t mean that the dress you’re considering is wrong. All it means is that you are experiencing natural emotions when it comes to picking out your custom wedding dress. Second guessing your dress before you buy it will ensure that you try it on more than once as well as enable you to really think it over before making a purchase. The most important thing to remember when you are buying a wedding dress is to have fun. Without having fun, you’ll miss out on a wealth of wonderful memories that you could be forming with your loved ones.

When it comes to hiring a wedding caterer, it’s important to make sure that you ask the right questions. One of the most important aspects of a great wedding is the food, and you want your guests to have a memorable dining experience. There is a wide range of restaurants that are willing to cater weddings, as well specific wedding caterers who only work at weddings. In order to ensure you hire the best person for the job, here a few questions you can ask before hiring a vendor to cater your wedding.

Does the Caterer Specialize in a Particular Cuisine?

It’s important to find out whether or not the caterer has a specialty when it comes to the type of food that they are accustomed to preparing. For instance, if you are having an Italian wedding, it’s important to make sure that even if the caterer has a great reputation; they also specialize in making Italian food. You’re better off hiring an Italian caterer who specializes in that type of food rather than a well-known caterer who may or may not have experience making the type of food that you want to serve.

Who is the Main Contact?

The main contact should be the same person who is preparing the food so that everything being done is extremely hands on. When it comes to preparing food, it’s important that the communication be as clear as possible. When there is a “middle man” there may be things or directions that get lost in translation and therefore it’s important to choose a caterer who will also offer to be your main contact person. It’s okay to go with a company who assigns you other people to utilize besides the main caterer, as long as you are able to be in contact with them directly if need be.

Are You Their Only Client?

You aren’t going to be the only client that the caterer ever has, however to some people it’s important that the wedding caterer be available to them and only them on the day that the wedding takes place. If the caterer is working on another wedding, it may not be advantageous for you to book them because their attention will be split between two large events. In order to get the most out of the caterer, try to book someone who is not dealing with any other commitments during the time of your big day.

Finally, don’t be afraid to enlist some help when it comes to finding the right person or company to cater your wedding. Your friends and family are a great place to start and will most likely love lending a hand during the wedding planning process.

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, and there are a few things that you should know in order to ensure that you are prepared for your big day. Getting married is a moment that should be cherished and enjoyed, and all too often couples become overwhelmed with the details of the wedding to the point that there are no longer focused of what’s really important. If you are getting married, here is some advice to help you survive and more importantly, stay happy throughout you wedding.

Budget

Plan on spending about 30% more than you intend to and you’ll be in good shape when it comes to avoiding financial surprises. If you are worried that you won’t be able to stay within your budget, adjust is and subtract at least 30% of the total from what you’re planning on spending. This way you are technically budgeting the overspending into your plan. If you want to have a really good laugh, break out your original budget plan after you’ve pain for everything and you and your loved one can revel if your optimistic financial attitudes. It’s not to say that you have to spend a fortune to have a wedding, and spending a lot of money certainly isn’t the intended purpose of getting married. However, if you plan on avoiding stressful situations you have to be prepared to overspend a bit. Doing so will decrease the chances that you are surprised by anything and therefore keep your mood more stable.

Enjoy the Moment

You will rarely hear people say that they got to enjoy every moment of their wedding, eating the delicious food and having meaningful conversations with their loved ones. It is for this reason that it’s extremely important to make sure that you revel in special moments while you can. Take at least 5 minutes the night before to spend alone with your significant other and while you are at your wedding, do the same with the family members that you care about the most. Setting aside time is practically the only way to ensure that you will actually end up getting those crucial quality moments with the people that you love. A wedding has a tendency to be a crazy whirlwind, and taking in small moments is one of the few things you can do to ensure that it doesn’t fly by you with missed opportunities to connect with love ones and share in the joy that they have for your experience.

Custom bridesmaid dresses are rarely perfect, and therefore it’s important not to go into it expecting perfection. If you want to make the most out of your wedding day, don’t set yourself up for failure by having unrealistic expectations.

If you are planning on having a beach wedding, it’s important to be as prepared as possible. Beaches are a beautiful and natural location and will make for a truly spectacular wedding as long as you take a little extra time to prepare for certain things such as the weather and your attire. In order to have the best possible beach wedding, here are a few simple tips that you can utilize to make the most out of your experience.

Attire

Having a wedding on the beach often requires that you take special care when it comes to your wedding dress as well as the custom bridesmaid dresses. You will still get to enjoy selecting from numerous bridesmaid dresses and wedding dresses but make sure that you get the right look and feel in order to stay within the constraints of having a “beachy” wedding. For instance, buying a traditional wedding dress that is heavy and does not flow well is not the best idea if you are planning on having your wedding on the beach. Instead opt for more lightweight and flowing options that will move with the form of your body and that “breathe” well so that you do not get too hot.

Schedule a Visit

Before you settle on any particular beach to have your wedding at, make sure that you take the time to visit the location first in order to know what you are in store for. Prepare for the terrain and location by getting to know what’s around and by walking to the exact spot where you and your guests will be. This will help you feel less anxious on the day of your wedding and also prevent any unknown surprises when it comes to the layout, look and feel of the beach that you decided on.

Inform Guests

This may sound obvious, but it’s easy to forget large details when you are in the midst of planning your dream wedding. In order to avoid making a mistake when it comes to planning your wedding, make sure that you tell your guests exactly where you are planning on celebrating your big day: The beach! Guests will not be pleased if they show up to you wedding dressed for an indoor wedding and find out that you are indeed getting married on the beach. To avoid any unwanted trouble, send out a cute invite that specify where your wedding is so that your guests can be prepared.

Relax

Chances are, if you’re having a beach wedding you know how to relax. It can be hard to remember to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere during all that takes place while planning your wedding. Take time to “take it all in” because this will be one of the best memories of your life.

If you’re having trouble finding a common theme for you wedding and you need a little help, you are not alone. There are plenty of people out there who have significant trouble when it comes to planning their wedding so it’s important to take a step back and relaxing order to think clearly. If you need a little nudge when it comes to picking the theme of your wedding, here are some great ways to start.

Pick a Location

Sometimes an entire wedding can be inspired by the location you decide to hold your wedding in. In order to get inspired, pick somewhere unique and then go from there. If you are having trouble finding a location, don’t be afraid to turn to your friend and family for help. If you want to plan a great wedding, it’s important to decide whether or not you are going to have an indoor or outdoor occasion. There are many different places that you can consider when planning your wedding. They include, but are not limited to the beach, a winery, a vineyard, a church, a special place that hold memories for you and your loved ones, a forest, a trendy city, or a remote forest.

Pick a “Mood”

Do you want your wedding to be cheery or romantic? Gothic or girly? These are things that you have to ask yourself before you start planning in order to help you stay focused and organized. Your wedding planning techniques could get a little messy if you begin the planning phase without having a mood in mind. Picking the mood early on will help make the rest of your decision easier when it comes to planning your big day. Once you have a mood in mind, the rest of the decision will easily fall into place because you will have something clear cut to base them off of.

Think Outside the Box

In order to ensure that you do something timeless, it’s important to think outside of the box. With a little help from outside influences you can come up with a list of ideas in order to get your creative juices flowing. Furthermore, it’s important to make sure that you turn to friends and family for advice as well. Chances are, a lot of your family and some of your friends have been married and therefore they can offer you words of wisdom as well as ideas when it comes to planning your wedding.

The most important thing to remember when you are planning your wedding is to stay positive and don’t let the stress get to you. With a cheerful, optimistic attitude you can accomplish what you need to get done without letting the process destroy the experience.

You did it. You finally said “I do!” The bouquet is tossed up and caught by one of your giddy guests and the moment has come to enjoy everyone’s company with some food, music and conversation. The wedding reception is a place to receive all the great positive emotion that weddings bring and its a great opportunity to have a little fun and add personal touches that will make your wedding memorable and charming. People usually have a tendency to be attracted to cohesiveness such as color schemes and
patterns. So having this in mind, you can begin brainstorming on a theme for you wedding reception.

A theme works best because everything will follow suit. A great place to start is reflecting on you and your spouses heritage, for example, if you have an Italian or French background a vineyard theme could be appropriate. If you your heritage is not so exotic, then perhaps you are a Californian girl who grew up on her grandfather’s vineyard and remembering such a place takes you to the halcyon of your youth.
Vineyard themes should be reminiscent of open outdoors and fresh flora. Setting the stage outdoors is key. If you can’t book the reception at an actual vineyard there are several ways to immolate the feel by bringing the vineyard to you. You can start by sending out invites with grapevine motifs, putting table cards in wine bottle corks, and using wooden barrels for decoration to bring the vineyard feel together. Replacing vases with beautifully labeled wine bottles and having a wine colored bouquet in each is a great way to illustrate the theme and color scheme. Wine colors vary from pale amber yellows to deep reds and airy pinks.These colors are vibrant and offer a great energetic ambiance that will have your guests blushing with romance in mind. One way to really personalize the reception is to have custom made wine bottle labels. They can have beautiful graphics, your wedding date, and names. They also make for the perfect wedding favor. The vineyard theme is as simple as it beautiful. It’s flexible to work with and always offers a charming atmosphere.

You can jazz up your wedding reception with some old fashion, ritzy 1940′s Hollywood glamour! Glamorous colors like red, black and white really illustrate style and class; a dominant social theme of that era. Invites are a tiny preview for your guest and will leave them with wonder on how the rest of the reception will be. A cute idea is sending movie ticket-like invites or film strip printed cards. It’s easy to have fun with the music with a 1940 theme. Having a live swing band will offer high energy dances and really set the stage of America’s past time. In those times, crystals and feathers were a popular fashionable statement. An idea could be decorating the backs of the chairs with feathered boa and stringed crystals on the tables that are lavished with red roses.

These are just a couple of ideas to consider when planning your wedding reception. There are many other themes or ideas out there. Which ever route you decide to take, have fun with it and have the time of your life dancing the night away with your the love of your life.

In order to effectively plan your wedding the best way possible, it’s important to use a little advice when it comes to simplifying everything that needs to be done. Planning a wedding is by no means an easy task, and without help it can seem entirely overwhelming. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a wedding planner at their disposal, so if you are doing everything on your own, here are a few simple tips to help you make the most out of your wedding planning experience.

Prioritize

If you have a smaller budget, it’s important to prioritize your expenditures. Most of the time, you can cut back on the things that don’t matter as much to your guests. For instance, feeding your guests and having an open bar are more important that filling the entire venue with flowers, or making sure that the lighting is superior. In order to prioritize the needs of your guests, start by making an itemized list of expenditures and then arrange them accordingly.

Organization

Make sure that you are as organized as possible when it comes to planning your wedding. Staying organized will not only help you keep your head on straight, it will ensure that you don’t make any oversights. There are so many different aspects to planning a wedding that’s it’s almost impossible to remember everything without keeping lists and staying organized. In order to prevent going over your budget, keep track of everything that you spend. This means keeping track of receipts as well as invoices.

Venue

In order to squeeze the most out of your budget, pick a venue that already has a lot of what you are looking for. Venues that already have décor, lighting and flower arrangements are a great deal because then you can save money on not having to buy any of those items. Sometimes, renting out a restaurant can be your most viable option because there are tables and dinnerware already at the venue and therefore you won’t have to spend money out of your own pocket in order to furnish the venue with those items.

Enlist Help

Oftentimes, your friends and family will be more than willing to help you when it comes to planning your wedding. You’ll never know how much they are willing to help unless you go out of your way to ask them, however. Weddings are an exciting time for everyone and you will be surprised to find out how many people are anxious to help you in any way possible. Enlisting a small army of friends and family is one of the best ways that you can help relieve some of the stress associated with having to plan your wedding without the help of a wedding planner. Enlist your family to do small errands and make sure that your wedding party is available to help you pick out your custom bridesmaid dresses.

If there is one day out of your life that could use the most advice, it would have to be the day you get married. Weddings are a beautiful elaborate occasion that may feel fanciful, but at the same time its reality at its best. Budget is on top of the list as always, but your wedding isn’t only about budgeting $40 dinner plates for you guest. Planning will help you capture all the incredible moments that happen at weddings. From tears to smiles, to “oops!” and “oh my’s!” a wedding is a lasting memory, and with the right people and planning it can be something to share with many friends and family for years to come.

The Right Pictures

All weddings should have a professional photographer. If you plan on having your niece who is in college grab her CoolPix and call it a day for your wedding, you will regret not having the artful compositions and mastery of lighting and exposure from a professional that will truly illustrate the mood and meaning of your wedding. There are certain shots that make up a great wedding album and are classic settings that you may of seen looking at friend’s or family albums. Top shots at weddings are: The girls getting ready, the bride getting in to her wedding dress, groomsmen, the cake, the bouquet, children,the wedding party in their bridesmaid dresses, the rings and of course the dances. Candid shots are always easily enjoyable they offer the beautiful realistic energy that can come from getting married or being at a wedding. Life is made up of memories and moments. Capture them with the help of the right person with the right equipment.

The Right Food

When people think of weddings, they think of dancing, food and drinks. Such a grand occasion is incomplete without them, so having the best meal that fits your budget is important to make it a memorable meal for you and and your guest its best to allow up to 40% of your wedding’s budget towards foods and drinks. You don’t want to serve cold sandwiches and potato salad on the most important and beautiful day of you life. A good place to start is where your wedding will be held. For example, settings near beaches are a common place to host a wedding. With its gorgeous landscape and infinite sky, the beach is a popular location. So it would make sense to consider creative plates with light tasteful fish entrees with tropical decorations that could include flora or tropical leaves. The protein option could be beef or pork cooked by open fire, such inspiration could be found from a Hawaiian luau.

The Music

Music has the ability to tap in to one’s subconscious and grab emotion where words could fail to do so. Having the perfect playlist is a must for you wedding. Music is the ultimate instrument when it comes to setting the mood. You can break it down to three catargories: The main dances, reception, and love songs.

The main dances are of course the first dance between the bride and groom, the mother and son, and the daughter and father. Sitting down with you dance partner and really considering what song will truly illustrate your connection will make your guests tear up in joy to see and feel the love between family, new and old. The song’s at the reception should be fun with a couple of love songs so that everyone has a chance to embrace their dates, loved ones, or wives and husbands. The electric slide has been done so many times at weddings. Be original. Think of songs relevant to your style and life. Love songs tend to be easier to choose. Motown and classic love songs from years past usually offer beautiful lyrics and lovely melodies that make it easy for anyone to fall in love all over again. One favorite is “Rock with You” by Michael Jackson, because its playful and sweet and usually everyone knows and loves that song.

Weddings require a lot of planning, but thinking in threes at first can help you not get all tangled up with the infinite options out there. Keep calm, and plan on!